The business behind the show

'Clash of the Titans' opens big; Tyler Perry still has it; and DreamWorks' 'Dragon' shows some fire

April 4, 2010 | 12:05
pm

It wasn't so much a clash as it was a rout.

Warner Bros. 3-D "Clash of the Titans" stormed to the top of the box office, taking in an estimated $61.4 million this weekend. The movie, which cost about $122 million and was co-produced and co-financed by Legendary Pictures, easily dominated its box-office competition. About 52% of the movie's box office came from 3-D ticket sales.

"If there was a battle out there, victory is ours," declared Dan Fellman, Warner Bros.' president of domestic distribution.

Projections for "Clash of the Titans" were that it would have a weekend take of between $60 million and $70 million. While it certainly met those numbers, it also dropped nearly 20% from Friday's box office of almost $26.4 million to Saturday's $21.6 million. The CinemaScore for the movie was a B, so the word of mouth on the movie was generally good. Perhaps competition from the NCAA Final Four basketball games or all those geeks standing in line to buy iPads played a part in the drop between Friday and Saturday.

Fellman said the studio was actually anticipating a bigger Saturday drop -- in the neighborhood of 25%. "The audience reaction has been terrific."

The $61.4-million opening is the biggest ever for Easter Weekend, easily beating "Scary Movie 4," which took in $40.2 million in 2006. Of course, any comparison has to take into consideration inflation and the more expensive 3-D tickets.

"Clash of the Titans" actually started screening on Thursday and took in about $2.6 million. Internationally, "Clash of the Titans" took in $44.2 million, 55% of which was generated by 3-D ticket sales.

Coming in second this weekend was Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married Too," from Lionsgate, which took in $30.1 million. For Perry, it is his biggest opening for one of his movies that didn't feature his Madea character. The movie beat projections and outperformed the first "Why Did I Get Married" by almost $10 million.

"I always underestimate his box office," cracked David Spitz, executive vice president of distribution for Lionsgate. Perry's movie played strongest to his core audience of African American women over the age of 25. Just imagine the box office if he ever does a movie in 3-D.

All the concern about the opening number for DreamWorks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon" being soft may have been for naught. The 3-D movie took in $29.2 million in its second weekend, a drop of only 33% from its first weekend of $43.7 million and good enough for third place. That the drop is under 40% is a very good sign that the movie may have some legs.

"We knew that really strong reviews and word of mouth would propel the movie," said Anne Globe, head of worldwide marketing for DreamWorks Animation. Even more impressive was that the box office actually went up 1% from Friday to Saturday. Abroad, the movie took in $38.5 million; it has made almost $100 million overseas.

Miley Cyrus' romantic movie "The Last Song" took in $16.2 million for the weekend; its five-day take is $25.6 million.

"Miley competed in the land of giants and did well," said Chuck Viane, president of distribution for Walt Disney Studios.

Rounding out the top five was Disney's "Alice in Wonderland." Despite playing in fewer 3-D screens this weekend, the movie still took in $8.3 million, and Viane projects it will top $325 million in domestic box office.